


Two Way Street

by ghostlyhamburger



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fic, chloe tries to be nice, friendship fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 08:30:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16740577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostlyhamburger/pseuds/ghostlyhamburger
Summary: Chloe learns how to be slightly nicer. prompt fic.





	Two Way Street

Chloe was crying. This wasn’t out of the ordinary for her, but this time, she wasn’t making a scene. She was just sitting on a bench in the school courtyard, crying quietly.

Most people didn’t notice. She hid her face behind a fashion magazine, and few other students paid attention to her anyways.

But Adrien did notice. He’d known her for long enough to recognize when she was avoiding people. If she was really just reading her magazine, she’d be on her phone telling her father all the things she wanted in it.

So he sat next to her and said in a hushed voice, “What’s going on?”

Chloe lowered the magazine just slightly, enough that Adrien could see that her nose was red and her eyeshadow was smeared. “Marinette. I don’t know why she’s so mean to me.”

Adrien just sighed. He knew exactly what Chloe was talking about—she’d been showing off a brand new designer handbag in class, bragging about how much it had cost. Marinette claimed the bag was counterfeit, and was able to prove it by pointing out the minute differences between Chloe’s bag and a picture of the real one.

Of course it had devolved into a loud argument between the two girls. It ended just before their teacher ended, with Marinette shouting at Chloe that if she was too idiotic to tell the difference, maybe she should’ve been held back a grade or two.

“You know she doesn’t know that you started school late,” Adrien said. He was careful to keep his voice low, aware of how desperately Chloe tried to hide her secret from her classmates. “If she knew, she wouldn’t have said anything like that.”

“Yes she would have,” Chloe replied adamantly. “She hates me, Adrikins. She has ever since she met me!”

“Have you ever tried being nice to her?” Adrien asked. “You don’t have to be best friends with her, but Marinette really is nice.”

“I can’t  _ now _ ,” Chloe snapped. “I’ve been mean for too long. She’ll never be nice to me, even if I did want to be friends with a baker’s daughter anyways.”

Adrien put his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I know you appreciate the friends you do have. Marinette would be another great one.”

“Well, it’s never going to happen.” Her eyes began to well up with tears again. “I’m glad I have you and Sabrina, you know. No one else ever wants to be around the stupid girl that’s only allowed to pass school because Daddy’s the mayor.”

“No one knows about your grades, and you  _ are _ smart,” Adrien said. “You’ve been class president for how many years?”

“Four, until Marinette,” Chloe mumbled.

“And you know how to organize parties or events in the blink of an eye,” he continued. “I’ve seen what Father pays Nathalie to do that, and you could definitely make a career out of it. Maybe you’re not great at history or science, but you  _ are _ smart. And I think everyone knows that.”

Chloe sniffed, rubbing at her eyes, and smiled slightly. “I can’t just change who I am just because I’m a little sad right now, you know. I can’t just start being nice to everyone. I tried that before and it was  _ really _ hard.”

Adrien couldn’t help but chuckle at that, remembering the disaster of a party. “I know, Chlo. But there’s a difference between being nice and not being mean. You could at least insult people a little less, then they’d be nicer to you.”

Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by Marinette, who’d walked up to them. “Uh, hey, Chloe?”

Chloe immediately arranged her expression into one of annoyance and disgust. Her unkempt makeup was the only clue she’d been crying. “What is it, Dupain-Cheng?”

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” Marinette said, guilt clearly written on her face. “I shouldn’t have called you an idiot. That was too far. And the bag is really nice.”

Chloe was about to gloat, tell Marinette that of course the bag was nice, but she saw Adrien’s face out of the corner of her eye. She took a deep breath and said simply, “Thank you, but you were right about it being fake.”

Surprise was clear on Marinette’s face. “It doesn’t matter if it’s real or not if it looks good and works, right?”

“I don’t use counterfeits,” Chloe declared. She reached into the bag and started emptying her personal things out of it, before handing the bag to Marinette. “Here. If you think it’s nice, you take it.”

Marinette stared at the bag in sheer disbelief, but did reach out and take it from Chloe’s extended hand. “Um…thank you, Chloe. This is really nice of you.”

She then headed across the courtyard to Alya, where the two talked, glanced at Chloe, and at the bag. They didn’t laugh at all.

“See?” Adrien said. “You can be nice.”

“That wasn’t nice,” Chloe replied, sounding like herself again. “She’s just dealing with my trash for me. I can’t be seen with that ratty old thing.”

He grinned. “You feel better after giving it to her, don’t you?”

She turned up her nose. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”


End file.
